§16-12-1. Incorporation as sanitary district for sewage
disposal; petition, notice and hearing; election;
form of ballot; expenses of election.
That whenever any area of contiguous territory shall contain
one or more incorporated cities, towns and/or villages, and shall
be so situated that the construction and maintenance of a plant
or plants for the purification and treatment of sewage and the
maintenance of one or more outlets for the drainage thereof,
after having been so treated and purified by and through such
plant or plants will conduce to the preservation of the public
health, comfort and convenience, the same may be incorporated as
a sanitary district under this article in the manner following,
to wit:

Any four hundred legal voters, residents within the limits
of such proposed sanitary district, may petition the county court
of the county in which the proposed sanitary district, or the
major portion thereof, is located, to cause the question to be
submitted to the legal voters of such proposed sanitary district,
whether such proposed territory shall be organized as a sanitary
district under this article; such petition shall be addressed to
the county court and shall contain a definite description of the
boundaries of the territory to be embraced in the such sanitary
district, and the name of such proposed sanitary district:
Provided, however, That no territory shall be included within
more than one sanitary district organized under this article.

Notice shall be given by such county court within ten days
after receiving the petition, of the time and place when a hearing on the petition for a sanitary district will be held, by
publication of such notice as a Class II legal advertisement in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication
shall be the area of the sanitary district. The first
publication shall be made at least twenty days prior to such
hearing. The hearing on the petition for a sanitary district
shall be held not later than thirty days after the county court
receives the said petition. At such hearing the president of the
county court shall preside, and all persons resident within the
limits of such proposed sanitary district shall have an
opportunity to be heard upon the question of the location and
boundary of such proposed sanitary district, and to make
suggestions regarding the same, and the said county court, after
hearing statements, evidence and suggestions, shall fix and
determine the limits and boundaries of such proposed sanitary
district as stated in the original petition unless by a vote of
the majority of the legal voters resident within the limits of
such proposed sanitary district, present at the said hearing, it
should be decided to alter and amend such petition to change and
redetermine the limits and boundaries of such proposed sanitary
district.

After such determination by the county court, the same shall
be incorporated in an order which shall be spread at length upon
the records of the county court. Upon the entering of such
order, the county court shall submit to the legal voters of the
proposed sanitary district, the question of organization and establishment of the proposed sanitary district as determined by
said county court, at a special election, to be held within sixty
days after the entering of such order, notice whereof shall be
given by the county court at least twenty days prior thereto by
publication of such notice as a Class II-O legal advertisement in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication
shall be the area of the proposed sanitary district. Such
notice shall specify briefly the purpose of such election, with
the description of such proposed sanitary district, and the time
and place for holding such election.

Each legal voter resident within such proposed sanitary
district shall have the right to cast a ballot at such election.
Ballots at elections held under this section shall be in
substantially the following form, to wit:

/ / For sanitary district.

/ / Against sanitary district.

The ballots so cast shall be issued, received, returned and
canvassed in the same manner and by the same officers as is
provided by law in the case of ballots cast for county officers,
except as herein modified. The county court shall cause a
statement of the result of such election to be spread on the
records of the county court. If a majority of the votes cast
upon the question of the incorporation of the proposed sanitary
district shall be in favor of the proposed sanitary district,
such proposed sanitary district shall thenceforth be deemed an
organized sanitary district under this article. All courts in this state shall take judicial notice of the existence of all
sanitary districts organized under this article.

The expenses of holding said special election shall be paid
by the county court of said county, in which said proposed
sanitary district, or the major portion thereof, is located, out
of the general funds of said county: Provided, however, That in
the event such sanitary district is established and incorporated
under this article, then said sanitary district shall repay to
said county the expenses incurred in holding said special
election within two years from the date of incorporating said
sanitary district.